Medication Review Improves Pain Management and Quality of Life in Chronic Pain

Summary

The goal of this parallel-group, single-blinded, randomized study is to conduct Medication Review (MR) Type III in chronic non-cancer pain patients to optimize drug therapy and measure it's influence on Pain Intensity and Quality of Life in the primary care setting. The study took place in Porto, Portugal with the collaboration of two Primary Care Units (USF Arca D'Água and USF Campanhã - Polo S. Roque da Lameira) under ACeS Porto Oriental, from where patients were recruited. The main question it aims to answer is:

* Does the implementation of pharmacist-led medication review benefit patients with chronic pain in the primary care setting?
* Researchers will compare with "Usual Care" (UC) patients which receives general advice on how to manage their pain and/or recommendations to take "over the counter" drugs, similar to community pharmacy visits, to see if there is a clinically significant difference in pain intensity and quality of life between the two groups of patients.
* Participants will be asked to attend face-to-face interviews once a month for 4 months with an expert in medication review, that evaluates their current medication and suggests an individualized care plan. These plans include measures aimed at physicians (e.g., medication adding; dose reduction) and participants (e.g., non-pharmacological measures; adherence to medication).

Conditions

• Chronic Pain

Interventions

OTHER

Medication Review Type III

The MR arm will receive four MR interviews. In the first MR, information about the patient's personal and medical history, along with current health problems, relevant lab exams and medication will be gathered. This will be used to proceed with medication review process and assessment of Drug Related Problems (DRP) that may lead to negative medication results. A personalized care plan will be developed to correct any detected DRP, delivered in writing/e-mail to the patient and carefully explained. Some DRP's may need the physician's intervention to correct. In these cases, a detailed recommendation will be sent to the patient's physician via email. All physicians' recommendations acted upon or not, will be recorded. Subsequent interviews will assess patient compliance with the care plan and if necessary, adjustments will be made accordingly.

OTHER

Usual Care

The UC arm will receive an intervention by the investigator at the same time frame defined for the MR arm. The intervention will also consist of interviews, although MR will not be conducted. The investigator will ask questions to the patient about is drug therapy in a similar fashion to what would happen in the community pharmacy. Simple advice and information will be carried out (i.e., reinforcement of adherence, explanation about indication of drugs etc.)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Salamanca

  collaborator OTHER

• Polytechnic Institute of Porto

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-11-03

Primary Completion

2024-06-26

Completion

2024-06-26

Countries

• Portugal

Study Locations